Paramythi I: City of Glass

“Maxa!”

Time seemed distorted when Elias stirred, blue eyes wide and hands shaking from the tremor and shock running through his veins. He was deprived of a number of things such as water and warmth; all due to the numbing pain throbbing against his shoulder. Alas, his attention towards the Prowler bite had been ignored as he forced himself to sit up, stomach clenching as reality painted itself like a picture in front of him.

He was inside one of the Rebel aircrafts, laying across a number of chairs. The metal walls surrounding him were cold and dark. The lights had been dimmed for the sake of his blurry vision, making things difficult for him to see when he reached out to feel around for his sister.

“Maxa!” He shouted once again, or rather he thought he had been shouting. His voice was wrecked and his throat seemed swollen whenever he took a breath to call for Maxa. The volume of his cries was actually no louder than a rattled whisper and this only frustrated him even more.

“Kara,” Reidonn’s voice filled the gaps in the air, followed by the sounds of a metal door sliding open and footsteps approaching his temporary resting spot. “You need to calm yourself. In the state you’re in, you could cause yourself more damage.”

“Maxa…!” Ignorant towards Reidonn’s advice, Elias turned over onto his side and rolled off of the chairs supporting his weight and straight onto the hard, grated floor of the craft. His cheek slapped against the harsh metal with an audible thud and he flinched, making very little reaction otherwise. “My sister…!”

Reidonn cursed, low under breath. She hitched up her spear and fixed it against the blade of her shoulder, running down the middle of her back to keep it out of the way as she knelt down and wrapped her arms around Elias’ waist to pull him up from the floor.

“C’mon, Kara. Keep it together.” Reidonn grunted, raising herself up and forcing Elias into a sitting position. “Maxa’s in a coma. I’ve already got into contact with Kane. Neoma came along on this aircraft to make sure Maxa received immediate attention on our way back. We’re taking her to the base where she can recover and, hopefully, come out of her coma within the next few months at the earliest.”

Elias was still shaking, and whether or not he had actually taken in anything Reidonn had said; he was beginning to calm down. His body became slumped, back pressing against the wall and eyes flickering with heavy eyelids. His pale lips trembled, almost as if he was trying to say something, yet nothing of coherent audio came out and he finally succumbed to unconsciousness once more.

Upon reaching the Rebellion base, things had quietened down. There was rain in the air, so they landed in the hanger rather than situating themselves atop the base’s roof and moved quickly to get Maxa into the infirmary.

“I need a stretcher, there’s some in the back room behind the ammunition in the third bay,” Neoma called out over the echoing noise of the dying propellers and engine. “Ares, can you go and collect it?”

Ares had been the first to jump out of the aircraft, thus Neoma had called for his assistance. The likelihood that he would have made up an excuse and avoid helping out the dock’s chief would have been likely if not for the sound of the pilot’s door opening and his brother jumping out to meet the scene.

“Tovi,” Neoma called, slinging her medical bag over her shoulder. “Can you and your brother get the stretcher from the third bay, please?”

Tovi nodded and turned on his heal, the tails of his coat slapping against the back of his legs. He glanced over his shoulder, glaring towards his little brother and refused to move until Ares sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets, solemnly trudging after him.

Alexis appeared next with Psykhe draped against her shoulder. The latter’s wound had been mended and stitched, thanks to Neoma’s handiwork, yet her vision was still blurred and she found the task of putting one foot in front of the other a troublesome thing to do.

“Yo, Trezla!” A familiar voice boomed throughout the empty hanger and Enzo appeared, strides quick and determined. “I need to talk to you!”

Alexis lifted her chin, meeting the glowing haze of her superior’s bright eyes and frowned. “Psykhe needs to rest. She received a rather gruesome head injury.” Explained the woman. “You can speak with her afterwards.”

“Trezla needs to come with me. The captain wants to speak with her, it’s urgent.” Enzo scoffed, taking a step closer.

Alexis stepped back.

“I’m serious, Iphigenia. Trezla needs to come with me.”

“Then I shall go, too. She needs support to stand.”

“I can support her just fine,” Enzo snipped and lashed out, grabbing Psykhe’s elbow with a harsher force than he had meant to excel. “So return to your own quarters and get on with writing a report for your mission at Dioscuri.”

“She will be of very little help, you know,” Alexis said, hands leaving Psykhe as Enzo pulled the blonde into his own grasp and pulled her arm over his shoulders. “Her partner is in critical condition! She could very well be in a distorted state and will be of no use to you or the captain’s questions!”

Enzo frowned and turned his eyes up, watching Reidonn exit the aircraft with a pale Elias slumped against her. Shaking his head, Enzo turned away from Alexis and rearranged Psykhe, hoisting her up into his arms. “That’s not her partner. I’m sure she’ll be very capable of answering any of our questions.”

“What?” Alexis froze in her steps, confusion halting her thoughts and catching the words in her throat before she could speak another word.

Psykhe’s eyes had fluttered open by now, yet her lips remained shut. After all of the effort she had made to present a good impression on Alexis even after the slip of her name, things still ended up unravelling at the hands of harsh truths. Urging her head to tilt, Psykhe glanced back.

She regretted doing so almost immediately and wished she could erase the betrayed look she had seen written on Alexis’ face.

“Miss Trezla, your brother has been dealing drugs throughout the villages between here and Minoas. Did you know anything about it?” Kane was as calm and collected as ever. His blue eyes were set with a state of ease and he leant against the back of his chair with a comfort only the subtlest kind of men could achieve. “Actually, I should apologise for having dragged you up here after your hectic mission, but I’m afraid we cannot afford to waste any more time on this matter. So, do you know anything?”

Psykhe sat across from Kane. Her leg was typically folded over the other and her elbows were resting upon the golden shaped armrests, keeping her tightly secure within the red-cushioned comfort supporting her back. She felt tired and sore, yet was able to keep her eyes open now thanks to the heavy dose of painkillers Neoma had injected her with before returning to base. All that remained on her pale features was the ugly marring of the cut above her eye and the stern shape of her lips; blunt.

“You’re gonna have to start talking, Trezla.” Enzo sighed from behind Psykhe’s chair. He was leant against the door, keeping anyone from barging into Kane’s office unannounced and frowned, eyes staring intently towards the back of Psykhe’s head. “Just tell him what you told me.”

There was no response for a number of seconds. No motion or sound, save for the golden hand of the grandfather clock in the corner, just a little to the right of the large window behind Kane. Finally, when Psykhe did move, she only shifted in her seat and rearranged her legs.

Kane smiled. “Your personality is honestly one of your likeable traits,” he commented, throat tensing as if to hide a small chuckle. “It’s a different kind of characteristic compared to your older brother, Merine.”

“My brother has been in jail for seven years. I think that explains in clear that he and I are nothing alike.” Psykhe said, voice as blunt and unreadable as her face. She stared intently towards the wall beside her rather than towards Kane and she moved her arms, crossing them over her chest. “I told Enzo exactly what Crysanthe’s parents told me; there has been a man roaming the villages outside of Emvolo, selling drugs and making deals in exchange for protection. They think it’s their own fault that their daughter died. They think, that because of their gracious hospitality and glorious inn, they caused the Shema to be influenced by this mystery drug and blow up the village.”

Kane’s face remained collected; unlike Enzo’s. “Did either of them say what kind of protection they were guaranteed to receive?”

“Nothing of the sort.” Psykhe shrugged and pushed back on her seat, balancing the comforter on its hind legs. “But it could be for anything. Rivalry villages, the city of Emvolo. Capitol, Tentrail, the Rebellion. All of them? I don’t know.”

“Did your brother have any close friends? People he would have relied on to carry out his work if he ever went to jail?” Kane tilted his head, composure remaining nonchalant.

“I don’t know.”

“Surely you would have noticed your brother with someone else?”

“I don’t know.”

“Trezla, your brother lived on your family estate with you. If he made contact with anyone else you would know something—”

“No, I wouldn’t!” Psykhe snapped, slamming her chair forward onto its front legs. Her hair fell over her forehead and she flared her nostrils until her heart settled and she swallowed down her nerves, slumped back into her chair and crossed her arms once more. “Merine was always getting in the way of father’s business. One night, he got into a huge row with the servants after he found one of them escorting a Sylvannix across the estate. Merine didn’t know that, at the time, our father was trying to come to an arrangement with the Sylvannix tribe after the Rebellion won the petition to allow them into Emvolo. Merine could not believe that our father could have such a change of heart after everything the Sylvannix had done to our family in the past and he ran away. I was only six at the time, and he was eighteen.”

Enzo moved away from the door to join the conversation. He looked beyond confused and laid his palms against Kane’s desk, peering towards Psykhe’s blunt expression. “But he came back to the estate? He found your father’s original documents about his plans to get rid of the Sylvannix tribe, right?”

Psykhe offered Enzo a quick glance of her sharp eyes and leant back in her chair once again, relaxed. “Of course he came back. When word spread that our father died, he came all the way to the estate within a day to hear what father had left him in his will. When our family lawyer arranged the meeting, it turned out that the estate, my father’s legacy and all of his documents were given to me and not Merine. But, by law, all the rights went to Merine until I turned sixteen.”

Kane’s lips trembled slightly and he exchanged a look of surprise with Enzo before inquiring further; “so, the incident which put your brother in jail six years ago, all of this was an outcome of anger from your father’s will?”

Psykhe shrugged her shoulder once more. “A month after Merine gained the rights to my estate, the Sylvannix within Emvolo were being hung on the word of the Prophet, Neriah Kiska. I don’t even know what his motives were, but the Sylvannix were responsible for the death of Merine’s mother.”

“You had different mothers?” Enzo blurted, casually sitting atop Kane’s desk, much to the captain’s look of disapproval. “I thought Sylvannix had changed their savage ways towards humans years ago?”

“Sylvannix eat humans. It’s their nature.” Psykhe said, collecting the shocking statement in such a levelled tone. “I knew this before learning about it in your classes as a student of the Rebellion. I knew because that was how Merine’s mother died; torn apart by Sylvannix in front of Merine’s eyes when he was only nine, three years before I was born.” She leant further back in her chair once again, tilting back until the armrests lodged themselves beneath Kane’s desk; stopping her from toppling back altogether and she stared intently towards the ground. “If anyone has a reason to hate the Sylvannix, it’s Merine. Our father tried to get rid of them for the longest time after the incident, but was overwhelmed by Emvolo’s decision to let them in past walls and mingle with our society. After this, he had no choice but to make peace, Merine was the one who decided against it.”

Kane and Enzo shared yet another look, allowing the silent dread to swallow them whole as they searched one another’s expression for a clue as to how they should address the topic any further. Kane had never truly meant to pull apart Psykhe’s personal past, and now, with the relevant evidence to back up Merine’s intentions of slaughter towards the whole Sylvannix race, he almost wished he had never begun questioning her.

“…do you know anyone who would want to torture Allowa and Avolaki, instead of the Sylvannix?” Kane found his voice once again after a minute.

“Could be anyone, captain,” Psykhe whispered, legs dangling above the ground, utterly balanced in the unsafe position of her seat. “I mean, look at the facts… years ago, the Sylvannix were driven out of kingdoms by royal fleets because of their eating traits. Faeman were created for biological warfare reasons and when no giant war came, they were later sold and bought as slaves and whores for the sake of their unique features. As for Allowa and Avolaki, they were smoked out of their caves years ago, captured and pulled apart by scientists and torturers in order to gain an understanding of their manipulative appearances and reproductive capabilities.” Lifting her chin, she met Kane’s eyes for the first real time and shrugged. “It was always humans who did these things. Always humans who were greedy, perverted, curious and selfish. We’re always gonna be the real enemies, so I guess I can’t really help you narrow this one down, sir.”

It was clear to Psykhe that Kane’s expression had been forced to remain at ease during the end of their conversation. It was hardly like Psykhe had been feeding the captain lies because, throughout their history, all of these things did happen; and were likely still happening within some kingdoms, especially the more brutal of kingdoms like Tipota and Ganymede. It made Kane sick to the stomach to even think of it, especially since he had met half of his units and fellow comrades in the grips of cruel humans and perverted psychos. Specifically, Twyla and Theo.

“Forgive the waste of time, Miss Trezla,” said Kane eventually. The look in his eyes was akin to guilt. “Please, feel free to leave now. Thank you for your cooperation, we will ask for your assistance once again if we happen to make any solid connections to your brother, or your estate.”

Psykhe’s eyebrows raised faintly and she slumped forward, knocking the chair back onto all legs. Without a word to wrap up the unbearable atmosphere, she pushed away from the desk and turned away, shoulders back and head high. She was out of the office in seconds, quietly pulling the door shut behind her.

“She owns the estate,” Enzo commented with a dull tone, making the words seem far more factual than a query.

“Yes,” Kane said and stood from his chair. “Perhaps I should have questioned that part further. Merine could still be using the estate to his benefit…” He sighed, eyes flickering out towards the clouds and drizzling rain from his window.

“Nah, I would say you did good to let her go. She basically just poured her heart out to us.” Enzo said, hopping off from Kane’s desk. “Here I thought we would have to wait another whole year to hear that one’s backstory.”

“Indeed,” Kane murmured. “But it seems she has nothing to hide.”

“Guess we should have apologised a bit more sincerely than what we did, huh?” Enzo joked, forcing a half smile. Kane did not see it. His back was facing him and all attention seemed focused on the scenic view. “…well, anyways, cap’n… I kinda got something to tell ya.”

Blinking, Kane seemed to have his interest piqued and he turned his head, peering towards his companion with expectancy. “What is it?”

Enzo chuckled and traced the tip of forefinger along the edge of Kane’s desk, clearly stalling. “See…Tovi and I found this merchant selling phoenixes. Believe it or not, we tried to get rid of it! We even went out to the local villages around Minoas’ borders early hours this morning, but no-one wanted it!”

Kane merely raised an eyebrow. “It’s still aboard the base?”

Surprised by the ease in Kane’s voice, Enzo muttered a small “yeah,” and braced himself for the certainty of being scolded for even attempting to sell the creature when it was illegal in the first place.

No scolding lecture slipped past Kane’s lips. Instead, the man chuckled and turned back to stare out of his window, hands folding against his back. “Just take good care of it. I could hardly say it’s the biggest problem we have on our hands, at the moment. But, I advise that you and Tovi keep it a secret from Ciiria, perhaps.”

“Yes, sir.”

Enzo practically skipped towards the door and exited into the hallway with an aura of relief and ease; something of which Kane was unable to withhold as he was left to think of the numerous factors being aimed at his fleet of Rebels and how on earth he was supposed to overcome them without losing anyone in the process.

Psykhe had retreated to her room with a blunt expression etched on her features. When the door to her room was pulled back and the scent of her own clothes and the warmth from within hit her, she was able to ease her shoulders out of their tense position and lowered her head. She made no plans to write a report on the mission or browse the features on her MDU, but instead unlatched her scythe from its holster and stored it under her bed, then proceeded to make a beeline towards her en suite and showered in cold water until she felt focused and refreshed. It was only after she had towel dried her hair and pulled on a fluffy dressing gown did she notice a knock on the door.

Reluctant was the emotion of which plagued Psykhe’s mind as she walked across the space between her bathroom and over to her door, dismissing the rather vulnerable state of dress she had adorned herself in.

With the door open, Psykhe found none other than Alexis standing on the other side. Judging by the abrupt turn of the latter’s head, it seemed she had been ready to walk away and have a change of mind before Psykhe had finally answered the door.

“You had a shower with that?” Alexis said, flexing a forefinger to direct at Psykhe’s forehead, specifically towards the stitched wound above her eye.

“I wanted a shower,” Psykhe replied, tone mild and expression even more so.

Alexis seemed to be holding back a smile and she went quiet, eyes flickering left and right as she examined the seriousness making up Psykhe’s face. Then, as if she realised her own rude staring and recalled that she was in fact put on the spot, she lifted her hand and displayed a small basket full of snacks and drinks.

“I figured you could blow off some steam. Everyone respects the captain, of course, but it is never fun having to share the same room as him when you are being questioned,” Alexis smiled, showing off white teeth, and then frowned. “Well, I mean, perhaps you might not be so worn out. Maybe you do not even wanna have company around, right?”

Psykhe said nothing. Her hand remained clasped against the door handle and she followed the motion of Alexis’ hand lowering, taking the basket out of sight.

“I suppose I come a little strong, huh?” Alexis nodded to herself and stepped away from Psykhe. “Please, forgive my forwardness. I hope you feel better in the morning.”

Psykhe’s voice continued to fail her until Alexis was nearing the corner at the end of the hall. With a large inhale of breath, Psykhe stepped out from her room, “Alexis,” biting the inside of her cheek, Psykhe waited for the woman in question to stop and look back before adding, “I could use some company, you’re right.”